(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic fuel cell stack assembling system, and more particularly, to an apparatus for rapidly stacking a fuel cell stack, which stacks fuel cell components at a high speed.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As generally known in the field, a fuel cell stack is a type of power generating device that generates electrical energy through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen by fuel cells, and is applied to, for example, a fuel cell vehicle. The fuel cell stack is formed by an electricity generating assembly, in which several hundred fuel cells (unit cells) are continuously arranged. The fuel cell has a configuration in which separate plates are disposed at both sides of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The fuel cells may be fastened together by an end plate and a fastening device in a pressurized state.
The aforementioned fuel cell stack may be manufactured by a process of stacking fuel cells one by one, pressurizing the stacked fuel cells with a force while the fuel cells are disposed between upper and lower end plates, and fastening the end plate using the fastening device. In the related art, a fuel cell stack is manufactured by manually and collectively stacking fuel cells using a predetermined guide mechanism, or dividing and stacking the fuel cells in a unit of a small module and manually stacking the fuel cells in the unit of the small module. Therefore, according to the related art, a general cycle time based on the stacking, pressurizing, and fastening of the fuel cells may be disadvantageous, and reliability of the fuel cells may deteriorate.
In addition, to manufacture a fuel cell stack, supply and examination of respective components configuring the fuel cells, a stack method satisfying handling and securing a stack of the components, and air-tightness (e.g., an air seal) maintenance and a stack fastening process through pressurizing the fuel cells is not required to be performed. However, in the related art, the aforementioned processes are manually performed, thus causing productivity to deteriorate due to an increase in operation hours for assembling the fuel cell stack and quality of the fuel cell stack may deteriorate since a stack degree of the fuel cells cannot be guaranteed.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.